The Day the World Spun Away
by Star Child
Summary: Ladies and gentlemen, Jade And Paco: Older, wiser, and madly in love. A sensual story of poetic measures. ^.–


The Day the World Spun Away  
  
Author: Star Child  
Genre: Romance/Romance  
Disclaimer: Mine? "Jackie Chan Adventures"? You must be mistaken!  
Rating: PG-13  
Reason I Wrote This: Um...um... Oh, you'll LOVE it anyhow! Just read, review, and enjoy!!  
  
  
He held her gently, carefully - lovingly. His entire world was lying in the pleasurable tingle that cascaded across his fingertips. The patches of his smooth, tanned, skin that touched hers were equally, if not more so, delighted. Every fiber of Paco's body clung to her touch.  
  
Jade indulged in his scent. Paco's scent. His thick coffee-brown crop of hair, smelling of earth... His skin? Fragrant with dust, sweat, labor, a splash of cologne... Her heart longed and prayed and beckoned for that scent - those pleasing aromas to still be left upon her flowery skin even after they had parted.  
  
Through the embrace, she found his shoulders. Shoulders that were smooth and large, smoothed and broadened and baked and tanned from the Mexican sun. Hard shoulders. Working shoulders.  
  
They both closed their eyes. She let his head rest on her chest, he let her caress his hair.   
  
Did Jackie or El Toro know that they had kept in touch? Perhaps...maybe... No, no they didn't. They knew nothing of Jade And Paco. In a pig's eye they knew of Jade Wanting Deeply For Paco, or Paco Longing For Jade, or Jade And Paco Not Supposed To Be Together - which seemed true, but wasn't. Still, of course, they didn't know of Jade And Paco.  
  
'So...' Paco let his fingertips come up to travel - slowly, carefully - across her shoulder. 'Life isn't too hard for you, then?' His deep, warm, brown eyes still lay shut. He basked in her softness...her richness. Jade's voice was warm and exciting, too - a comforting, lulling, sound that simply massacred the void of loneliness inside him. She was so much older and beautiful, too...not pretty, anymore. Beautiful.  
  
'It's nice.' Jade's fingers looped through his hair - brushed against his smudged clothing. 'Very exciting...you know... Govt. agent stuff - always exciting; very exciting.' Had it - Paco's hair - always been this thick? It was this thick when they were children. When had that been - being children? Had it been a month, maybe a year since then? It couldn't have really been a decade, right? Couldn't have...  
  
Paco shifted his weight, for he kneeled on the floor though he laid his head to Jade.  
  
Jade still sat on the embassy bed. With every passing moment, she wished harder that--  
  
'I should've written you, Jade.'  
  
'You were busy. You didn't have time.'  
  
'You probably didn't, either, did you?'  
  
'I guess it happens. Work is busy...always busy.'  
  
'That would be true. This part of the continent - you know? - is riddled with drought. I have work, too. Lots of it.'  
  
'It's been like that for a year... I saw you working in those fields. Have you been working that hard for a while?'  
  
No answer.   
  
'You should have a bit of R&R sometime, you know.' Jade hadn't giggled that way for a while.  
  
No answer.  
  
'Paco?'  
  
'Yes? Lo siento.' He laughed warmly - softly. 'I fell asleep for a moment.'  
  
'It's all right. You're tired.'  
  
'So are you.'  
  
'How could you tell?' She murmured gently.  
  
'You're worn down. I saw your face before at Senor Gomez's farmstead. As soon as I saw you, I thought...you know what I thought?' He looked up at her with playfulness drawn into his gaze.  
  
'What'd you think?'  
  
'"That woman looks like road kill."'  
  
'...And I thank you for the observation.' Jade grew annoyed immediately. 'I don't have to groan to you how much this trip is slaughtering me. Now, if...'  
  
'Want to know what my second thought was? Before I recognized you?' He was eager to say.  
  
'Okay... Go ahead, then...'  
  
'"ÁQue bonita!" I thought. "...How beautiful that woman is, and--"'  
  
Paco fell to the floor. Jade had pushed him off her lap.  
  
'What?! Jade, I--"  
  
'No!' Jade stood up, half screaming. 'Paco, I live in San Francisco! You have a home here!! We can't do this!! This won't work...careers and responsibilities! It's cute to fantasize, but it can't happen!'  
  
'What are you talking about?' He stood up from the ground. 'You think we can't be in love??'  
  
'Yes!! Err, no... I... No... Responsibility... You have work!'  
  
'And you can't ask me to quit it?? Come and live with you??'  
  
She looked away.  
  
'Jade!!'  
  
'You have things and people here!' She blurted out. 'You're needed! That's what *I* thought when *I* saw you!'  
  
'I'm not needed here!'  
  
'Yes you are!!' Tears were falling - tiny, crystal, tears, but tears.  
  
'No... I'm done. They have the help they need.'  
  
'Liar! I can't ask you to...to be with me! You have-"  
  
'I quit, today.'  
  
'When?!'  
  
'When I looked at you!'  
  
Jade fell silent.   
  
'Jade...' Paco's voice fell soft. 'Maybe it's too much to-'  
  
'Paco...'  
  
'No. Jade, it was my mistake. You're right, we can't just-"  
  
Paco fell to the floor, again. Jade had tackled him down, her arms finding his hair...her lips finding his.  
  
Passion had fallen to passion, and the world - slowly and swiftly; lovingly and eternally - spun away.  
  
  
"Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing."  
Helen Keller 


End file.
